In a flat-bed knitting machine of this type, known from German Pat. No. 32 43 315 C1, the entire spool table including the multiplicity of yarn spools and yarn supply devices, is movable from a rear position to a front position. Since the spool table, with all these elements, is very heavy, this is accomplished by driving a translating it via gear wheels and racks, which is relatively costly. Nevertheless, even though the spool table moves into a front position, it is still difficult to gain access to the yarn spools that are in a back row. Furthermore, in the known flat knitting machine the spool table is movable only out of a rear position, in which it protrudes substantially beyond the back of the flat knitting machine, to a front position in which the front edge of the spool table only to approximately above the middle of the needle bed apparatus. This again dictates that access to the individual yarn spools is still difficult, because it is still necessary to reach past half of the needle bed and carriage apparatus, which is a considerable distance.